In most wireless communication systems, one or more base stations facilitate wireless communications with any number of mobile stations through a wireless interface. A significant amount of information must be exchanged between the base stations and the various mobile stations to enable communications therebetween. This information is generally defined as control information. An exemplary wireless communication system is defined by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standards as set forth by the Broadband Wireless Access Working Group for Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN). The IEEE 802.16 standard is commonly referred to as WiMAX, which stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access.
The system requirements for the IEEE 802.16 standard are set forth in the IEEE 802.16m standards, and like many other wireless communication systems, much of the control information that is used for system access, the transmission and reception of traffic packets, and handovers from one base station to the next, is often transmitted and retransmitted ad nauseum, regardless of whether the mobile stations actually need to receive the information. In many instances, the mobile stations are in sleep or idle modes, or already have received and stored the control information. As such, the excessive retransmission of control information that is either not needed by the mobile stations or has already been received by the mobile stations significantly increases control overhead, wastes communication resources, and harms power efficiencies due to the mobile stations having to remain awake to receive and process control information that is either not necessary or is already available.
Accordingly, there is a need for a technique to more efficiently disseminate control information to mobile stations in wireless communication environments, including those defined by the IEEE 802.16 standards and others, in an effective and efficient manner. There is a further need for a technique to ensure that the mobile stations efficiently obtain control information as necessary while reducing the need to receive and process control information that has already been received or is not relevant for operation.